See protowriting in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "proto",
"3": "writing"
},
"expansion": "proto- + writing",
"name": "prefix"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From proto- + writing.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "protowriting (uncountable)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "64 36",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "53 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms prefixed with proto-",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "70 30",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Entries with translation boxes",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "74 26",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "87 13",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "69 31",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Polish translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "62 38",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Terms with Portuguese translations",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Any of the early systems of symbols that developed into writing."
],
"id": "en-protowriting-en-noun-MGC0Atbr",
"links": [
[
"early",
"early"
],
[
"system",
"system"
],
[
"symbol",
"symbol"
],
[
"writing",
"writing"
]
],
"tags": [
"uncountable"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "78 22",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "system of symbols that developed into writing",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "proto-pismo"
},
{
"_dis1": "78 22",
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "system of symbols that developed into writing",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "protoescrita"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Linguistics",
"orig": "en:Linguistics",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "53 47",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English terms prefixed with proto-",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"glosses": [
"Meaningless writing-like patterns drawn by children who cannot yet write."
],
"id": "en-protowriting-en-noun-Rsc~VYS2",
"links": [
[
"linguistics",
"linguistics"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(linguistics) Meaningless writing-like patterns drawn by children who cannot yet write."
],
"tags": [
"uncountable"
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"linguistics",
"sciences"
],
"translations": [
{
"_dis1": "15 85",
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "meaningless writing-like patterns drawn by children",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "proto-pismo"
}
]
}
],
"word": "protowriting"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English nouns",
"English terms prefixed with proto-",
"English uncountable nouns",
"Entries with translation boxes",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Terms with Polish translations",
"Terms with Portuguese translations"
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "proto",
"3": "writing"
},
"expansion": "proto- + writing",
"name": "prefix"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From proto- + writing.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "-"
},
"expansion": "protowriting (uncountable)",
"name": "en-noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "noun",
"senses": [
{
"glosses": [
"Any of the early systems of symbols that developed into writing."
],
"links": [
[
"early",
"early"
],
[
"system",
"system"
],
[
"symbol",
"symbol"
],
[
"writing",
"writing"
]
],
"tags": [
"uncountable"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"en:Linguistics"
],
"glosses": [
"Meaningless writing-like patterns drawn by children who cannot yet write."
],
"links": [
[
"linguistics",
"linguistics"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(linguistics) Meaningless writing-like patterns drawn by children who cannot yet write."
],
"tags": [
"uncountable"
],
"topics": [
"human-sciences",
"linguistics",
"sciences"
]
}
],
"translations": [
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "system of symbols that developed into writing",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "proto-pismo"
},
{
"code": "pt",
"lang": "Portuguese",
"lang_code": "pt",
"sense": "system of symbols that developed into writing",
"tags": [
"feminine"
],
"word": "protoescrita"
},
{
"code": "pl",
"lang": "Polish",
"lang_code": "pl",
"sense": "meaningless writing-like patterns drawn by children",
"tags": [
"neuter"
],
"word": "proto-pismo"
}
],
"word": "protowriting"
}
Download raw JSONL data for protowriting meaning in English (1.7kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.